In a vacuum, the trade that sent Mike Ribeiro from the Montreal Canadiens to the Dallas Stars was one of the most lopsided in recent years. Context might change that up in the same way that revisionists might view the Joe Thornton trade,* but either way it was a rather one-sided deal.

Ribeiro hasn’t exactly let bygones be bygones since that Sept. 30, 2006 deal, as you can see from the way he celebrated both his goal and being named the first star of the Stars’ 3-0 win over the Habs.

Check out his reaction to the tap-in tally:

Then bask in the glow of his first star celebration, which wasn’t exactly … humble.

So Ribeiro got his revenge. Still, when you talk about the talented-but-polarizing center’s time in Montreal, Canadiens fans have the ultimate video trump card. Check out his embellishment of a penalty during a 2004 playoff series with the Boston Bruins, which is basically the textbook definition of unsportsmanlike conduct:

Never change, Mike Ribeiro. Never change.

* – If you ask some Boston Bruins fans and some others, they’ll say that trading Jumbo Joe allowed them to move onto the Marc Savard/Zdeno Chara era. You have to get kind of abstract when Marco Sturm‘s so-so Bruins days were about the best that came from that swap for Boston, after all …

He was the original “YOU CAN SEE THE BONE! Oh, wait, I’m fine” clown of this generation. Instead of being traded (in one of the dumbest deals in NHL history), Joe Thornton should have buried him in the Bell Centre ice.